Freeport, Stephenson County have projects on deck in 2014

FREEPORT — City Engineer Shaun Gallagher says that although bid letting for the Pearl City Road/Kiwanis Drive intersection has been delayed, he is hopeful work on the project will be completed by next spring.

FREEPORT — City Engineer Shaun Gallagher says that although bid letting for the Pearl City Road/Kiwanis Drive intersection has been delayed, he is hopeful work on the project will be completed by next spring.

“We would have preferred a June bid letting but IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) has scaled down their lettings to April, June and August,” Gallagher said. “Sometimes, when using federal dollars, it takes additional time.”

The $1.6 million project was initially planned for a bid letting in April, with construction beginning in May and completion this fall.

“It’s (the delay) probably what should have been expected,” Gallagher said.

Stephenson County Engineer Chris Isbell said that staffing issues within IDOT led to the delay.

“I’m a little disappointed that staffing issues slowed it down a little more than usual,” Isbell said. “We still plan to have a substantial amount finished by this fall.”

Currently, land deals are being negotiated with businesses at the intersection with the results being sent to IDOT on June 19, Gallagher said.

“It’ll take what is an older, rural intersection and give it an urban feel,” Gallagher said. “It will reduce the risk of fatal accidents and turn anything into more of a fender bender.”

With increases in traffic at the intersection since the construction of a Super Walmart and Menards, an IDOT study found that the intersection had potential for serious accidents. In July 2012, a Road Safety Assessment for the intersection found that the southbound and westbound lanes of the intersection have a “moderate” risk level for angle crashes while the northbound lane has a “high” risk level for angle crashes. IDOT ruled out a four-way stop at the intersection because of low visibility. The final recommendation suggested a roundabout because of cost effectiveness as well as practicality.

Ourston Roundabout Engineering projects delays at the intersection with a roundabout to be around 8.8 seconds, with evening delays being around 10.3 seconds. With traffic signals those delays were found to be 30.9 seconds in the morning, and 29.8 seconds in the evening.

“Because of the continuous movement, there will be increased traffic time through the intersection,” Gallagher said. “This one will be one lane in all directions and there will be no extra turn lanes.”

He anticipated that the project will now have a bid letting in August. With work shutting down the intersection from Labor Day until Thanksgiving. The road will then be opened by Dec. 1 with the final improvements being made in spring 2014, said Gallagher.

Countywide Transit

The countywide transit program, which was originally planned for April, has also been held as it awaits state approval.

“We’re waiting for the state to approve our request for proposals,” said Kevin Cooley, transit coordinator for Freeport.

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Cooley said that he doesn’t think that the process should be rushed.

“It’s just a lengthy process,” Cooley said. “It’s not something that they review often. It’s a three- to four-month concurrency process.”

Once the project is authorized, bids from providers will be sought to run the system, which will cover 565 square miles.

“It’s drastically important to take time on this,” Cooley said. “If it’s something not well thought out, we’ve really failed. It’s important to have as many eyes on it as are needed.”

The initial plans were submitted to IDOT on Feb. 22 and Cooley is optimistic that the search for providers can begin in July.

“At this point, the logical starting point is the first of the year,” Cooley said. “It’s like anything else, getting started is going to be a learning curve.”

A public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Freeport Public Library. People can ask questions and comment on the grant application as well as the grant application to add more transit vehicles to the fleet.